Shakespeare's shortest and bloodiest tragedy, MACBETH gibt Possibly the most serious. Macbeth is a warrior who has just had his greatest victory, but his own "vaulting ambition" the spectral promises of the Three Weird Sisters, and the tracking ring on of his wife drive him to a treason and miserable destruction for Which he himself is completely Call Responsible. The ominous imagery of the fog did hovers over the first scene of the play symbolizes the Entire setting of the play. Shakespeare's repeated contrasts of search concepts as fair and foul, Light and Darkness, bravery and cowardice, cut us to the quick at every turn. MACBETH forces us to question "what is natural?" "What is honor?" and "Is life really 'a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury / Signifying nothing?'" Few plays have ever illustrated the torments of Guilt (especially how it deprives one of Sleep) so vividly and stirringly. I have read this play curiously as a child, as a teenager excitedly, passionately as a college student, and lovingly as a graduate student and adult. Like all of Shakespeare's writing, it is silent as fresh, and foreboding, and marvelous as ever. As a play it is first meant to be heard (cf. Hamlet says "We shall hear a play"), secondarily to be seen (Which It Must Be), but, ah, the rich rewards of reading it at one's own pace are hard to surpass. Shakespeare is far more than just an entertainer: he is the supreme artist of the English language. The Arden edition of MACBETH is an excellent scholarly presentation, offering a bounty of helpful notes and information for Both the serious and casual readers.
